Desktop won't turn on

[Omar]

Tried to use my computer this morning. It was still on, hadn't turned it off. Monitor showed no input screen, which is normal. Shaking the mouse and typing didn't wake it up though. Keyboard and pen tablet showed no light, so no input presumably. No beeps. Turned it off by pressing the power switch for a couple of seconds. Turned it back on. No use. Did some research, mostly came up with PSU/mobo issues. Suggestions were to turn off the tower from behind, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and to try again. There was a red horizontal slide thing at the back of the PSU which I toggled a couple of times. No switch at the back of my tower so I unplugged the power cable. Now it just doesn't turn on at all. There's a green LED at the back of my PSU. It's lit.

What do I do?

The computer in question is 6 years old. I'm not too worried about the files; most of the important ones I can find again (my music library is on last.fm, it'll take work but that's not too bad) or are on Dropbox, assuming I can't slave the drive as I've seen suggested. I do have some software I was planning to use in the near future on there; I'll probably be replacing it soon, so really costly repairs are probably not really worth it. While I'm on this topic, do laptops have the same shelf life as desktop computers? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Lord Paul]

Do you have any USB cables plugged into it? I know that my parent's computer will not turn on if the printer is plugged in.

[Sbrideau]

When you try to turn it on, do the fans turn? If it's the case, I'm leaning towards an experience I had myself when my old computer was 5 years old. Check with only one stick of RAM in there and see if you get anything. If it doesn't work use another stick.

[Omar]

I unplugged the USB tablet and tried booting. Nothing interesting happens. I can't check if the fans are turning, since the computer won't turn on. IIRC when it still did nothing happened. When I tried plugging headphones into the soundcard jacks, which typically makes my computer have a short existential crisis, I heard a hard drive spinning over the blaring air conditioning, but I'm quite sure it's from the computer I'm using right now, not the comatose one (she'll wake up, right? :( ). I only have one stick of RAM in the computer, but I have another laying around. I'll try booting with it instead tomorrow, because it's late and as you can see it's taking a toll on my mind.

[jimmy_jim]

Happened to my desktop as well, though it was only 8 months old and under warranty. Dell sent someone out to fix it for me, the problem was in the power button if I recall

[Sbrideau]

Well for the fans I was just asking if you could hear them, but from what I see, you can't because of the air conditionning lol.

[Omar]

@j_j: the power button was working before though. What now? Do I call the pros?

[Lord Diddy]

@j_j: the power button was working before though. What now? Do I call the pros?

 

There's only a few possibilities on why your computer isn't turning on. Before spending money on a professional there are things you can do to try and fix it yourself. You will have to be familiar with your computer as you'll probably be unplugging a few things.

 

When you have your power cord plugged into the tower, on the motherboard is there an LED light that turns on? (I recall you said there is one on your PSU but is there on the mobo?)

Have you recently added any new hardware to the computer, more fans? a new optical drive? a new graphics card?

If your outlet plugged into a extension cord or directly into a wall?

 

I would suggest unplugging the components connected to your motherboard (take out all ram sticks, unplug HDDS, optical drives, usb ports, graphics cards) and see if you can POST, if you successfully POST then try adding components one at a time.

[Omar]

No new hardware, plugged into an extension cord.

I don't know what you meant by plugging my computer into the tower, but when I plug the PSU to the extension cord I get no light on the mobo.

I've taken out the ram stick, unplugged the drives, but I'm afraid to break something while unplugging the graphics card. The USB ports seem to just be metal boxes.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your help.

[Lord Diddy]

No new hardware, plugged into an extension cord.

I don't know what you meant by plugging my computer into the tower, but when I plug the PSU to the extension cord I get no light on the mobo.

I've taken out the ram stick, unplugged the drives, but I'm afraid to break something while unplugging the graphics card. The USB ports seem to just be metal boxes.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your help.

 

I've changed my post because I made a silly typo, I mean "plug in power into your tower". When you have your power cord connected to the computer there should be an LED light on the motherboard that tells you that your motherboard is receiving power as shown in the picture below (color of LED varies). Try plugging the computer in directly into the outlet and see if you can POST, maybe even using another outlet just for testing purposes.

 

This is a good link to take a look at. http://www.tomshardw...-video-problems

 

[Omar]

Oh yeah, I'm getting nothing of the sort. I'll take a look at that thread and tell you what I get.

[Omar]

I've decided to just trash everything save for the HD and to turn it into an external drive. Any recommendations?

[Markup]

Just an fyi, the red slider is the psu input voltage switch. [email protected], United [email protected] Setting a power supply for 230V with 110–120V current is harmless; however, feeding 220–240V into a power supply set for 115V will destroy the power supply.

[Omar]

Thanks.